Premier League Primary Stars - Diabetes Awareness Month

Premier League Primary Stars uses the appeal of the Premier League and professional football clubs to inspire children to learn, be active and develop important life skills.

Blues players Ben Coker and Anton Ferdinand attended the Premier League Primary Stars program on Thursday 16th November at St Teresa's Catholic School in Basildon teach the pupils about what diabetes is and explain how Coker is still able to play football despite having the condition himself.

Coker attends school talks on a regular basis to spread his wealth of knowledge and own experiences with diabetes.

“I think it’s good that we are going round to schools and talking about diabetes as not many people know the difference about type 1 and type 2.

“I just like doing as much as I can to help others understand diabetes, I’m trying to get the message out there that you can do whatever you want in life and don’t let it get the best in you.”

The Primary Stars program is available to every primary school in England and Wales, and it inspires girls and boys aged 5-11 in the classroom, the playground and on the sports field.

Teaching materials cover subjects from English and Maths to teamwork and PE, with free to download activity ideas, worksheets, lesson plans, fun assemblies and exclusive videos.

Southend United Community & Educational Trust run competitions that range from national football tournaments, to creative writing and reading challenges for reluctant readers.

With their current competition being the Premier League Writing Stars - a poetry competition where we are asking pupils to write poems on the theme of resilience.

Learning is connected to the real world of sport to enthuse with pupils when tackling challenging PSHE topics such as resilience, diversity, self-esteem and fair-play.

Southend United’s Community & Educational Trust coaches visited St Teresa’s CatholicSchool in Basildon to teach the pupils in educational sessions that offer a fun and engaging way to learn a range of subjects.

As well as learning educationally the pupils were given the opportunity to practice their football skills with a small kick around session, followed by an assembly that was all about Diabetes Awareness.

The school’s head teacher ‘Nuala Cashell’ spoke to us on the assembly and how she believes having someone like Ben Coker, who has diabetes and is in the sports industry benefits the pupils awareness of the condition.

It’s great that the children see someone like Coker come in and talk about diabetes.

“Hopefully after this assembly his words of wisdom will have a knock on effect on the children as it hasn’t stopped him doing what he loves.”